The present invention relates to a new variety of Calibrachoa plant, botanically known as Calibrachoa sp., originated from crossing of a Calibrachoa hybrid variety called ‘P5’ as the female parent and ‘E10’ as the male parent.
The female parent ‘P5’ (unpatented) used in the crossing of ‘Sunbelhopi’ is a strain of our breeding lines, having an outwardly spreading growth habit with abundant branching. It has small single flowers, the petals having a vivid reddish purple color.
The male parent ‘E10’ (unpatented) used in the crossing of ‘Sunbelhopi’ is a strain of our breeding lines, having a spreading growth habit with abundant branching. It has small single flowers, the petals having a light yellowish pink color.
In April 1999, crossing of ‘P5’ as the female parent and ‘E10’ as the male parent was conducted at Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan. Seedlings were obtained from that crossing and were grown in pots in glasshouses and were evaluated from October 1999. One seedling was selected in view of its growth habit, flower size and color in August 2000. That seedling was propagated by cutting and a trial was carried out by flower potting and bedding from April to November 2001. The botanical characteristics of that plant were then examined, using similar varieties ‘Sunbelchipi’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,355) and ‘Sunbelrikupi’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,729) for comparison. As a result, it was concluded that this Calibrachoa plant is distinguishable from any other variety, whose existence is known to us, and is uniform and stable in its characteristics. Then the new variety of Calibrachoa plant was named ‘Sunbelhopi’.
In the following description, the color-cording is in accordance with the Horticultural Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society, London, England (R.H.S. Colour Chart).